Heya! I noticed this game got greenlit and it got my attention. However, I got a few questions.

As I understood it, you can only invade other players when they are online. So that basically mean if I wouldnt be online for a week, no one can attack me? How does that work if say, I camp outside a enemy player ready to invade in like 6 hours or something. What would happen if either I or he/she would be offline when I finally can invade?

How does the combat feel, and unit management. It looks very clunky and unpolished in videos I've seen (the combat that is, pathfinding and combat animations etc). Is the unit management like Total War? You command your armies yourself or can you assign generals to flank/take control of a few units if you have a lot to control? Or is the AI really stupid?

How hectic are the battles? In games like these when you control a army I generally like to watch the battles (like in the total war games). Maybe even let the AI (like generals and so on) take control of the battle just to watch it, and take control if needed.

How is the cash shop? I know the devs say it isnt pay to win (I've read a few FAQ's and the sort) but I'd like to hear from the players what you think. Do you think this game has pay to win elements?

Also, how does the "armies are matched by strength" thing work. I mean, I build units before the battles right? So if I build, lets say 1000 infantry. A player invade me with 500 infantry, to match this, do I only get to defend with 500 infantry even though I have 1000? And vice versa, if someone attack me with 1000 infantry, and I only have 500 defending, do I get 500 more to defend with as a bonus?

And last, as a player who loved stronghold and like Total War, do you think this is a game for me?

EDIT: Should've read through the forums a bit more, I just noticed the "Traveler Introductions" forum. Maybe this thread should be moved there?

You are under wrongful assumption about how Dawn of Fantasy world map locations works with regard to player towns. DoF doesn`t show actual player towns on the world map, taking entirely different approach - it`s user friendly, quicker and makes for PvP battles always being fare. This is not like Stronghold Kingdoms or other browser MMORTS games - that didn`t have real-time combat, so that approach was impossible with DoF.

I`ll let somebody else comment on the cash shop, but as for matching armies/town by strength - our system always creates a fair battle situation. So you will only engage and get attacked by forces similar to your army or town. It`s always a matter of skill and not unfair advantage in numbers.

As design director I drew my inspiration from Stronghold and Total War games (as well as Age of Empires) - so you will love the sieges and there is also singleplayer game mode - Kingdom Wars, that`s a copy of simplified Total War gameplay. Although it`s rough around the edges as we mostly focus on Online Kigndom - MMORTS part of the game.

And battles are hectic, sometimes difficult to control and pathfinding is horrific (ok well maybe not that bad, but my opinion is negatively biased) - but still it`s a lot of fun, and if you could tolerate Stronghold 2 and 3 - things are much, much better And our team is constantly working on the game releasing at least one patch every week - so controls and pathfinding should be improved in the coming weeks.

I only liked the first stronghold game, I'm afraid. But thanks for being so honest in the game's current flaws *cough* pathfinding *cough*.

I'm not quite sure though if I want to risk buying the game, we'll see. I love the concept, but the game seems very unpolished - that said, do you have a thread somewhere of future patches/plans I could look at to see where the game is heading? I really hope you will polish this game up to be a real gem.

As for the sieges, it kinda confuses me. So you are always evenly matched? That is of course fair, especially for new players. But there is no feeling like defending or attacking against all odds and be victorious. I'm not saying I want to roflstomp every other player with a vastly larger army, of course not. But sometimes I'd like to take on a challenge and with skill and tactical planning be victorious. Is this something you could possible opt in for? (again, correct me if I'm totally wrong of how the system works!) Or maybe I should see it this way? You are always equally matched, and the players skill is what matters. So if the enemy is a more skilled player, you're in for a challenge!

EDIT: totally off topic, but have you noticed anything since the game got greenlit?

No other player who wants to comment on the microtransactions and if this game is paytowin? I will not support this game if it sell power. Would be nice if someone would comment on this.

On a side note, would be really awesome if you would sell hero/troop skins and so on though.

Hi Wakko. From my personal expirience, there is no need to spend any more money, than to buy the game.

Units, that are bought via Influence (crowns) are shared around all availabel races. These are Dragons, Dwarfs (the miners shine, btw), and several hero-units, out of all races, that can compliment your army.
As an example - the DrangonSlayer, is a very welcome addition to every army, facing (surprise) Dragons, and so on...

Something i want to mention here, is the fact (and something i like very much), that all your units, except of your main hero, are gone, when dying in any battle; So its kinda tricky, if u really want to form an army out of "Elite-units", when risking to loose it all against a "vanilla-army" (standard-units can get really strong beond lvl10).

This influence, can aswell get farmed via Quests, PvP or Npc-Town-siege... so u will allways have access to every content, the game delivers. No matter if u want to farm your way, to the first royalDragon, or you want to save some time, spend some money and get it asap.

I have never regret, to have bought that game - and i got it for about 25 €

Just copying/pasting from a post I made elsewhere, but here it is in case others are wondering (or you still are)

There is an in-game currency (crowns) that you can purchase with real money. You also get quite a few of these through doing normal quests and missions. It is NOT pay to win. Having a stockpile of crowns won't give you a significant advantage at all. The crowns allow you to halve building time on buildings (not really that useful at all) and purchase a few special units. The special units are great but take up significantly more unit slots so their usefulness is debatable. The one thing they are used for is purchasing unit upgrades. There are a finite number of upgrades and through the course of playing normally, you will earn enough to buy all the upgrades.